Distortable rolling mill entry guides

ABSTRACT

A ROLLING MILL ENTRY GUIDE INCLUDING HORIZONTAL SUPPORT MEMBERS POSITIONED ABOVE AND BELOW THE PASS LINE OF THE ROLLING MILL AND SUPPORTING DISTORTABLE READILY REMOVABLE OPPOSITELY DISPOSED ELONGATED WIPING MEMBERS ARRANGED SIDE BY SIDE IN CLOSELY SPACED RELATION.

Jan. 19, 1971 GAOAKES ETAL I 0,555,813

DISTORTABLE ROLLING MILL ENTRY GUIDES Filed April 5, 1969 FIG. 1

//IO I v(/6 /I7 V/i 3 FIG. 2

INVENTORS VINCENT B. CETRONE BY GRANT A. CAKES ATTORNEY United States Patent Oihce 3,555,873 DISTORTABLE ROLLING MILL ENTRY GUIDES Grant A. Oakes, RD. 4, Cortland, Ohio 44410, and Vincent B. Cetrone, 8569 Sleepy Hollow Drive, Warren, Ohio 44484 Filed Apr. 3, 1969, Ser. No.813,071 Int. Cl. B21b 39/20 U.S. Cl. 72250 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rolling mill entry guide including horizontal support members positioned above and below the pass line of the rolling mill and supporting distortable readily removable oppositely disposed elongated wiping members arranged side by side in closely spaced relation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention This invention relates to rolling mill entry guides positioned the stands of a rolling mill immediately above and below the pass line and engaging and guiding a metal strip entering the rolling mill.

(2) Description of the prior art The prior structures of this type have included complicated support means and wooden wiping members direct- 1y engaging and guiding the metal strip entering the rolling mill (see for example U.S. Pats. 3,058,376 and 3,071,032). Specifically the present invention is an improvement over that set forth in our co-pending applications for Ser. Nos. 577,516 and 610,550 Pat. No. 3,446,052 which applications disclose rolling mill entry guides including solid, plastic, wiping members.

This invention eliminates the solid, plastic, wiping members and provides a distortable structure largely plastic foam, having a greatly increased life expectancy and a much lower initial cost and the capability of conforming to irregularities in the strip being rolled and absorbing internally scabs and scale from said strip being rolled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A rolling mill entry guide comprising a pair of oppositely disposed upper and lower wiping members positioned in suitable mounting means immediately adjacent a rolling mill for receiving and guiding a metal strip entering said mill. Said rolling mill entry guides comprising wiping members molded in one piece [from a suitable plastic material to which a foaming agent has been added prior to molding so that a member having an integral skin and foamed core results.

In use the side edges of the skin are cut away leaving the skin on the wearing and supporting surfaces of the wiping members.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front plan view of a portion of a rolling mill showing the rolling mill entry guides positioned adjacent thereto.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In its simplest form the rolling mill entry guide comprises closely spaced upper and lower wiping members, the upper wiping member having a skin portion 10 and a foam core 11 and the lower wiping member having a skin portion 12 and a foam core 13. Both the upper 3,555,873 Patented Jan. 19, 1971 and lower wiping members are formed integrally by a method which places a suitable plastic resin such as nylon or the like into which a gas such as nitrogen has been introduced in a mold and whereby the subsequent molding action causes the foaming of the interior of the article being molded and thus produces an integrally molded and cured article largely plastic foam but having an integrally formed skin thereabout.

Plastic resin having lubricating qualities such as ABS having molybdenum sulfide therein or polypropylene may also be used and it is possible to form articles such as the upper and lower wiping members disclosed herein with skin thicknesses of approximately inch with the foamed area therebetween of any desired dimension. Such articles are formed with a completely enclosing skin and in the present invention the skin on the sides of the wiping members is cut away so that it remains on the upper and lower surfaces and the opposite end surfaces thereof as disclosed in the drawing.

The resultant wiping member has an increased resiliency as a result of such modification. Still referring to the drawings it will be seen that the upper and the lower wiping members have oppositely disposed tapered end portions 14 and 15 respectively and that the upper wiping member is held above the metal strip S on the pass line of the rolling mill by a support 16 to which a clamp 17 is affixed at its forward end by a fastener 18, the clamp engaging a transverse recess 19 in the upper wiping member. A similar construction is formed at the opposite end, that end adjacent the rolls of the rolling mill where the support 16 has a down turned and in turned flange 20.

The lower entry guide 13 is positioned upon a support 21 and it will therefore be observed that the upper and lower entry guides are positioned immediately above and below the strip S which is entering the rolls of the roll ing mill on the pass line thereof.

It will also be seen that the distortable rolling mill entry guides disclosed herein have suflicient skin area to resist normal wear and that their distortable resilient characteristics resulting from their foam core construction makes it possible for them to absorb scabs or pieces of scale and the like which are traveling with the strip steel and which simply enter the distortable rolling mill entry guides and become embedded in the body thereof.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim:

1. Entry guides and wiping members for a moving strip at the entry end of a rolling mill, comprising a top guide member and a bottom guide member, said top and bottom guide members each consisting of horizontally disposed plastic bodies having foamed cores and surface skin portions on at least the surfaces thereof engaging said moving strip, and defining a path for said moving strip at the entry end of said rolling mill.

2. The entry guides set forth in claim 1 and wherein the guide members are formed of resilient distortable material.

3. The entry guides set forth in claim 1 and wherein the entry guide members are molded of a plastic resin such as nylon or the like to which a gaseous bubble forming medium such as nitrogen has been added at the time of molding so as to form an integral skin surface and foamed core.

4. The entry guides set forth in claim 1 and wherein the entry guide members are molded of a plastic resin such as polypropylene or the like to which a gaseous bubble forming medium such as nitrogen has been added at the 3 time of molding so as to form an integral skin surface and foamed core.

5. The entry guides set forth in claim 1 and wherein the entry guide members are molded of a plastic resin such as ABS incorporating molybdenum sulfide or the like to which a gaseous bubble forming medium such as nitrogen has been added at the time of molding so as to form an integral skin surface and foamed core.

6. The method of forming rolling mill entry guides which comprises introducing a mixture of a suitable synthetic resin having a gas entrained therein into a mold defining the shape of the entry guide, curing the resin whereby the majority of the resin foams and sets in a plurality of resilient cells enclosed in an enveloping skin like section of the resin in a non-foamed state.

7. The method set forth in claim 6 and wherein the References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1969 Oakes et al. '72250 7/1965 Thompson 185 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner- M. J. KEENAN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

